Bills
| 3.23.22

Reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) & the Community Health Centers Program (H.R. 3922)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 3922?

(Updated October 5, 2018)

(Update 11/1/2017): Originally this bill was known as the CHAMPION Act and reauthorized the Community Health Centers program and several other public health programs for two years. It is expected to be amended on November 3rd to also include the HEALTHY KIDS Act, which would extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through fiscal year 2022. The bill will then be titled the CHAMPIONING HEALTHY KIDS Act, and you can find details below.

HEALTHY KIDS Act

This section of the bill would extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through fiscal year 2022. Additionally, it’d reauthorize the following through FY2022:

  • Qualifying-states option, which lets states that provided coverage to now CHIP-eligible children prior to CHIP’s enactment continue to provide coverage.

  • Express-lane eligibility option, which allows states to use eligibility finding from other public benefit programs to determine children’s eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP.

Beginning in fiscal year 202, state child-health plans would be allowed to adopt more restrictive eligibility standards for children in families whose income exceeds 300 percent of the poverty line.

The bill would extend funding for the Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project and the Pediatric Quality Measures Program through 2022. Funding for outreach and enrollment grants would also be extended, and “parent-mentors” trained to assist families with children who don’t have health insurance would be eligible to receive them.

Under current law states are provided with an enhanced Federal Matching Assistance Percentage (FMAP) through fiscal year 2019. This bill would maintain the enhanced FMAP in fiscal year 2020 but cut the percentage point increase in half.

Medicaid payment reductions for disproportionate-share hospitals (which treat a large share of low-income payments and get an additional payment under Medicaid) would be eliminated in fiscal year 2018, but extended by two years through fiscal year 2027.

Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands would be increased through fiscal year 2019, and could be increased further through 2019 for both territories if Puerto Rico takes specified actions to improve its Medicaid program.

Funding for this section of this bill would be offset by:

  • Altering provisions related to third-party liability under Medicaid and CHIP.

  • Specifying how a state must treat qualified lottery winnings and lump-sum income for purposes of determining Medicaid eligibility, making it harder for lottery winners to remain in Medicaid.

  • Eliminating Medicare premium subsidies for beneficiaries with annual incomes exceeding $500,000.

The bill's full title is the Helping Ensure Access for Little Ones, Toddlers, and Hopeful Youth by Keeping Insurance Delivery Stable Act of 2017.


CHAMPION Act

This section of the bill would extend funding for Community Health Centers and several other public health programs for two years through 2019. Funding for the programs would be offset by shortening the grace period during which premiums could be paid, and reducing funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund by $6.3 billion over the 2018-2027 period. Funding for these programs technically expired with the end of fiscal year 2017 on September 30.

Among the other public health programs that would be extended include:

  • The Special Diabetes Program for Indians, and the Special Diabetes Program for Type I Diabetes.

  • Payments to teaching health centers that operate graduate medical education programs.

  • Family-to-family health information centers.

  • The Youth Empowerment Program and the Personal Responsibility Education programs.

The bill’s full title is the Community Health And Medical Professionals Improve Our Nation Act of 2017.

Argument in favor

Funding for CHIP should be reauthorized for five years, while the Community Health Centers program and other public health programs are extended for two years — both with slight reforms. They play a critical role in delivering cost-effective care and improving health outcomes for families and children.

Argument opposed

CHIP and the Community Health Centers program and other public health programs should be reauthorized, but the funding shouldn’t be offset by shortchanging the Prevention and Public Health Fund, ending Medicaid eligibility for lottery winners, or cutting Medicare subsidies to wealthy seniors.

Impact

People who would benefit from CHIP, the Community Health Centers program, and other public health programs; states; and federal agencies administering those programs.

Cost of H.R. 3922

The CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would reduce deficits by $132 million over the 2018-2027 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) introduced this bill to reauthorize funding for the CHIP, the Community Health Centers program and other public health programs:

“We know that these public health programs are vital to communities across the country and funding should be quickly extended in a responsible way. Democrats should stop blocking critical health insurance for children and funding for community health centers in order to protect taxpayer-funded subsidies for the wealthiest among us.”

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), who introduced the original HEALTHY KIDS Act, spoke in favor of its merger with the CHAMPION Act:

"The CHAMPIONING HEALTHY KIDS Act includes key provisions for public health programs, especially funding for the state Children's Health Insurance Program. Congress msut act to ensure that children and their families who rely on this vital program can continue to receive the access they need. In a fiscally-responsible way, this legislation also delays harmful Obamacare-mandated cuts to hospitals that provide care to underserved patients."

House Democrats have expressed opposition to this bill, writing in its committee report:

“While we support the reauthorization of the critical public health programs included in the CHAMPION Act, we cannot support doing so using the partisan offsets the Republicans have proposed in this bill. Rather than working together to identify offsets that we all could support, the Committee Republicans chose to continue their efforts to repeal and undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through this legislation.”

Both the CHAMPION Act and the HEALTHY KIDS Act passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee on party-line 28-23 votes.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Steve Debenport / iStock)